Insights
Rev Gav
Did Jesus come to start a revolution?
10.22-30
At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
Reflect
John, in his gospel (good news) about Jesus Christ, leaves us clues or pointers to an exciting subtext, and this passage is no exception. He introduces the section by stating that it was the Feast of Dedication and Jesus was walking in Solomon’s Colonnade inside the temple. The Jews approach him and ask him how long he is going to keep them in suspense. To fully understand what the Jews were asking of Jesus, we need to rewind just a little.
The Feast of Dedication was an 8-day feast that celebrated a special and quite recent historical event in Jewish history. You may know this feast by it’s Hebrew name – Hanukkah. Hanukkah literally means dedication or consecration. Back in 165BC, Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian-Greek king, had occupied the temple and replaced the God of the Jews with the Greek god Zeus. This was a terrible thing as the temple in Jerusalem was central to Jewish theology. A Jewish revolutionary called Judas Maccabeus led an uprising and reclaimed the temple, rededicating it and consecrating it back to God (capital G). o remember this they started the festival or feast of remembrance.
In Jesus day, the Jewish people were under Roman oppression and the Romans had a whole bunch of gods that they worshipped. The Jews were waiting for the Messiah to come who would lead them in a revolution to overthrow the Romans and re-install a Godly rule – a new kingdom. It is worth pointing out that in just a few years time the temple would be completely destroyed by the Romans.
So, we have Jesus in the temple, during Hanukkah – with the back drop of previous revolution, an occupied country under immense political tension – being asked, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Talk about a loaded question!
However, Jesus answers in two ways. Firstly, he doesn’t say outright, “I am the Christ (Messiah).” You see, saying that you are something does not make you that thing. Christ or Messiah is not just a title, it is a role, and you cannot divorce the title from the role. Also, the Jew’s understanding of Christ or Messiah was wrong. They were expecting someone who was 100% human but 100% anointed by God, and who would lead a violent revolution and establish power. If Jesus had said, “I am the Christ” then in some ways, because their expectation was wrong, he would have given them the wrong impression. Sometimes I wonder if it’s like they asked, “Are you the Christ?” and Jesus is like, “Boy, if only you knew…!”
So, you cannot separate the idea of Messiah and what the Messiah had to do. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Jesus would only be the Messiah if he fulfilled what the Messiah came to do. So Jesus replies, (I paraphrase), “I did tell you but not with words but with actions.” Jesus again asks the question, “Who do you say I am?”
Then Jesus says something even more radical. He tells the Jews that they are not his sheep – or his followers. Hang on a minute, surely the Messiah would be the one who would lead the Jews – all of them. And here is Jesus saying that actually, there are a bunch of people that he is leading and these people are God’s chosen people, the elect and that there is a bigger, eternal dimension to this flock. They are ‘in’ and the Jews (well, at least these Jews) are ‘out’. They are looking for a powerful leader but you don’t get any more powerful than God.
There is nothing cryptic about Jesus’ proclamation. He has come to lead a revolution, but not a violent one. He has come to establish a kingdom but not one that is bound by geographical borders, political regimes or kings. A kingdom that will change the world and last forever.
The question this text asks of us is, “Are we the sheep of Jesus? Do we listen to his voice and do we follow him?”
In the same way that you cannot divorce the role of Messiah from the title, we cannot divorce the role of Christian or Church from it’s title. How do we follow Jesus? By obeying his commands. It is a nonsense to say “we are saved” if there is no outworking of that salvation. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The question is, are we flavoursome?!
As the church, are we focused around Jesus? Is Jesus the central pivot on which we turn? It is so easy to get distracted and focus our lives around things other than Jesus – our children, our jobs, our hobbies, our buildings, our services. If I am honest, it is when Jesus stops becoming the main thing that I get depressed, low, and frustrated.
Have you made Jesus your king? Have you chosen to make him your Lord over your life? Have you committed to then working that out – as long as it takes? That is what it means to follow Jesus.
May you know the joy, love, grace, mercy and peace that comes from being part of his kingdom.
Amen.
and then